I Just Want Players to Save Money, They Insist on Giving Me!
Chapter 665 - 208: When you think you’re facing a weak enemy, but suddenly the boss battle BGM starts playing... _3

Chapter 665: Chapter 208: When you think you’re facing a weak enemy, but suddenly the boss battle BGM starts playing... _3

And after a wave of explosive attacks,

the War Hawk flapped its wings and circled back, diving towards Czcu for another strike!

It shaved off a small portion of his health bar!

Czcu’s health bar plummeted to a dangerously low level, barely able to withstand two more pounce attacks.

If it were any other soldier, even with low health, given Czcu’s current level of proficiency, Anti-defense + Hound Sword Technique could have killed the opponent in a second.

But the War Hawk kept circling in mid-air, and it was outright impossible to hit the little bastard.

The height of a leaping slash was just enough, though.

"Then I’ll go all out!" Czcu steadied his mind.

He had just leaped up to chop at the War Hawk,

when unexpectedly, the opponent struck faster, grazing over the top of the Fading One’s head, while delivering a fierce clawed kick!

The kick sent the Fading One flying off the railing of the platform.

Below was a bottomless cliff!

A fall meant certain death.

"It’s over... my Runes..." But before Czcu could finish his thought,

his pupils flickered slightly, and a hint of surprise came from his mouth.

"Eh? Not dead?"

The screen showed the Fading One falling from above the railing of the platform.

Yet he landed on a small step extending outward from beneath the platform.

"Did I just exploit a BUG?" Czcu wondered.

It wasn’t strange that Czcu’s first reaction was that he’d encountered a bug.

The small, semicircular step he was standing on was built right against the underside of the platform above, looking more like decorative edging for the building.

And, this platform could not be seen from above.

One had to jump up, standing on the railing, to barely catch a glimpse of its edge.

In other words, players normally wouldn’t be able to find this platform.

If there really was a path, why didn’t Designer Ke give any slight hint to guide players?

But soon, Czcu realized he was wrong.

This platform was indeed a secret pathway!

He could continue descending by jumping onto smaller platforms.

Below, closer to the edge of the cliff, there was a protruding rock, big enough for a player to land on.

What followed was a series of meaningless rock-hopping.

Czcu had no idea where he was being led; by now, his sense of direction was completely scrambled.

With no way back, he had to fully restore his health and move forward on what could hardly be called a path.

In the midst of this, a little incident occurred.

Czcu had landed on a lower rock platform, and the moment he made contact—

"Boom!!"

The platform suddenly collapsed!

Czcu yelled in shock, startling the viewers who hadn’t been startled before.

Following the collapse, the Fading One experienced a steep plunge of great height,

but emerged unscathed.

And finally, there appeared before him a small pebble path he could actually walk on, and at the end of his sight, there was a stone door.

Yet Czcu was completely dazed at this point.

He scratched his head, looking bewilderedly into the camera.

"Guys, I really don’t know where I am anymore."

"As you all saw just now, I came out from the left side of the Blessing Spot, intending to take the War Hawk Corridor."

"And then I ended up here out of the blue."

"Don’t blame me, guys, the streamer doesn’t like this feeling of not being able to distinguish north from south, east from west, not even knowing where I am or where I’m going next... to be honest, it’s a terrible feeling because the progress of the game is completely out of the player’s control..."

"I feel like the top player might have had some issues trying to blend the Diorama type into the open world..."

"I have to say, so far, the map design of ’Elden’s Diorama has been a bit poor."

Czcu simply voiced his inner thoughts outright.

He had played some Diorama games on Blue Star before.

The guidance in those was generally very clear.

Where the player should go next, where the bosses were, where collectibles were likely hidden.

All this was either strongly or weakly indicated to the player.

And even if not,

at least let the players know where they are, right?

Otherwise, how is this any different from throwing the players into a pitch-black maze?

No player would enjoy such a hellish feeling.

But what about "Elden"...

It carried weak guidance over from the open world into the Diorama structure of Stonewell City.

And still maintained the weak guidance.

Which led to Czcu being as confused as ever since entering the city, without the foggiest idea of where the Demigod boss Gerrick was hidden, without a single hint...

Faced with what seemed like a complicated network of routes, he also had no clue where to go next.

Now, to make matters worse, he had no damn idea where he was...

This was something Czcu thought the top player needed to criticize.

Praise where praise is due, but issues must be pointed out where there are issues.

You can’t bring the mindset of an open world into designing a Diorama game.

In the open world a player can wander everywhere and eventually find their way back,

but in a Diorama you’ve got walls, high platforms, and all sorts of messy obstructions blocking the way, so how can you wander back?

However, just as Czcu was complaining about how bad the map design was,

suddenly,

behind that nearby stone door,

a knight clad in russet red armor, wearing a bull-horned helmet, and appearing tall and mighty while wielding a Broad Sword and a round shield with pointed edges, slowly emerged from behind the door.

"Oh?" Czcu’s eyebrows raised slightly.

It seemed that the top player did put in some effort after all.

The map design might have been crappy,

but it always managed to give players something to do, keeping their attention diverted to some activity.